To Make One's Path
by no-namey
Summary: When you lost your path, where do you stray? Naruto found drenched in blood in the woods has been deprived of his memories, will he be able to regain them before it's too late or will he once more be betrayed and left for dead...
1. Prolouge

.

**Story: To make one's path.**

Prologue

* * *

_When you lost your path, where do you stray?_

* * *

A raven haired man entered his cell, whit the same expression he always wore against his captive. It was sad, guilty and concerned. Naruto always got this nostalgic feeling whenever he was near. He felt the man's pain; he sympathized for him somehow even though he didn't know anything about him. Why such a man had been led down this rotten path was a mystery to him. Why hadn't anyone helped him, it was obviously a innocent soul deep down in him that just needed to be grabbed and helped to break through that decayed façade. The man handed him a limp of bread and ordered him to eat. Naruto did as he was told, he ate fast as he always did. Not only was he hungering to death since he only got feed every other day but also because he really enjoyed what came after. The seemingly emotionless man always stayed to listen to him blather on about irrelative things. This was Naruto's favorite moments. It was the only moment he got to feel like a real person, not like an animal. The man gave his usual snort at his comments about everything and nothing. There was the usual silence that always filled the room before the man always stood up to leave, without a single word but this time was different. As he reached the door he turned back to face the blonde. "why is it that you are always so happy? We put you through daily torture and you can still sit here and smile a earnest smile at me and talk to as if I was not one of them, one of them whom treat you like you were a something, a monster, why is that?"

Naruto looked puzzled at the question. "I don't really have anything to compare too, this is all I know… but I probably wouldn't have those earnest smiles if it weren't for you. And you are wrong; you do not treat me like a monster."  
The man's guilt features took his face as he turned it away in shame. "I'm sorry" he whispered.

"For what?"  
"For bringing you here, you do not deserve this."  
"Well… like I said, I wouldn't know, would I? It actually makes it a lot easier." He said smiling one of his signature smiles. The man smiled a little and walked up to him and put his fingers on his neck. He pressed them against his skin while mumbling something non-understandable. Naruto felt the pain from the sessions earlier that day weather away. "Thank you…" he mumbled as he felt his body fall into a welcomed sleep. "It's Sauske by the way… my name that is."  
"oh, really… well, thank you Sauske…" He whispered before he fell asleep on the rock hard floor.

* * *

A/N: First Chapter will be up soon since it's already done, the second is also done and the third is about halfways. :) Review, please.

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Naruto  
Apologizes: My english sucks, but if you do find it annoying then stop reading, can't do much about it since my english teacher in school sucks... (;


	2. Found

**To make one's path.**

_Chapter one._ Found

* * *

_When you lost your path, who will find you?_

* * *

Sakura slammed her fist at a nearby tree causing it to break and fall over. Kiba who was standing in range for the falling tree quickly jumped aside. "Oi, Sakura, watch where you lash out." Akamaru whined in agreement. He didn't want to see his friend squashed under a tree.

"I'm sorry. But we have been searching for an entire month and we haven't found one clue!"  
"Yeah, I know… but we will find him. I promise." He said and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No, it has been to long… he could be dead by now. I can't stand to lose another member of my team, not after Sauske."

_Flashback.  
_Kakashi, Yamato, Sakura and Naruto were sitting at Ichirakus. Everybody was waiting for Naruto to finish his tenth bowl of Ramen. Kakashi had lost a bet against his student during their training earlier that day so he was forced to pay. And so he had put up a maximum of ten bowls per person. Not that any person could eat more than ten bowls of ramen. But when it came to Ramen Naruto was no person, he was a walking trashcan. "So finally done, are you?" Kakashi said relived.

"Not really, I could eat ten more" Naruto said jokingly. "But you won't, I would go bankrupt."  
Naruto laughed. "yeah, you would."  
They walked outside. "Well I guess I'll head home then. Thanks for the ramen Kakashi-sensei. Yamato-taichou, Sakura-chan I'll see you tomorrow at the gates for the mission. Bye!" And so the hyperactive ninja ran off, if he ever reached his home, no one knew because that was the last anybody had seen of Uzumaki Naruto.  
_Flashback end._

* * *

In rice country Hatake Kakashi and Nara Shikamaru whom was one of the ten two-man cells that had been dispatched on the mission to find Naruto. A search for a missing shinobi of Konoha would never be dragged out on such a long period and never would twenty people be assigned to look for one Genin. But this was no normal Genin, he was one of the Hokage's most precious people, she had ordered that no team were to return unless they had found him. There had been a lot of trashed furniture before she was done whit the mission-directing. She was going to have him back.

Not only was this mission for the best of Uzumaki Naruto but it was also for the best interest of the world. If that boy were to fall into the wrong hands, the wrong hands in this case were to be the Akatsuki; it would mean the end of the world. That was because of the monster he contained, the nine-tailed demon fox.

Shikamaru and Kakashi had not uttered one word to each other during the entire day. They had found traces of Naruto's chakra three days ago but when they reached the source they only found a blood-splattered grass clearing where there had obviously been a fight. Naruto's chakra ended there and there were no further traces. This had been their best and only clue during the entire month they had been out. Kakashi was starting to get really worried about his student. Sure Naruto was the best survivor he had ever seen… but would he be able to make it alone for an entire month especially whit so many people that wanted to get their hands on him. One would wish that he had someone with him. But in this aspect it probably would be best if he was alone because if he had company it would probably mean the Akatsuki and that would only result in his death.

Suddenly Shikamaru stopped. "Do you feel that chakra?"  
"Yeah, it's Neji and Lee and they are traveling fast. We should go and check it out; they might be on to something." And so they redirected their steps towards the other team.

* * *

Naruto was wiggling through the forest. His body was heavy due from blood loss. He was clutching his right arm to try and stop the bleeding though it was hard whit his broken hand. His entire body apart from his legs was pretty much nonfunctional. He was lucky his legs would still carry him though since he felt four persons approaching him _fast_. His eyesight was getting blurry and to his dread he felt his legs getting weaker. 'Shit, come on. _Move!" _But no. They didn't move instead they bent underneath him and he fell down to his knees. 'Shit, I'm done for this time.' He though when he heard the four persons getting closer and closer, he heard them screaming something, "naruto, naruto!!"

'Naruto? They know my name?'

* * *

"Naruto, Naruto!" Lee shouted as they approached the blond beaten up ninja. "It's really him!" They saw the blond struggling to get up to his feet. "Naruto, stay down. It's us." Kakashi said as they finally reached him. Naruto didn't stop but was eventually forced down to sitting position by his own exhaustion. He turned around to face them. And they were taken aback by how broken the young ninja was. His clothing was drenched in blood, _his_ blood. And he had a huge slash over his right arm and the left had a badly broken hand. They really didn't want to know how badly it looked underneath those blood drenched clothes, it wouldn't be pretty. "Naruto… why aren't they Kyuubi healing you?" the copy ninja asked.

Naruto widened his eyes in shock but was fast about making them into little slits and baring his teeth to look as intimidating as possible. "How do you know about the Kyuubi and how the hell do you know my name?" He asked pushing himself backwards, away from them.

"What are you talking about, naruto? It's us, Shikamaru, Neji, lee and Kakashi. We have been looking for you for over a month, what happened to you?" Shikamaru asked  
Lee stepped closer. "Come on… we need to get you to Sakura-chan, she'll heal you" He stretched out an arm to help him up but was only repaid by a kick to the gut since his legs was the only thing he could use right now. He gathered al his remaining strength to get up to his feet and he started to run. "I won't be deceived. I know you only want the Kyuubi!"

"Naruto, stop!" Shikamaru yelled. Like that was going to help. Kakashi dashed towards his student. There was no way he was going to lose him again. It wasn't hard to get up to his pace; he didn't have much life left in him after all. Kakashi wrapped his traveling cloak around him and in one sweep swung him over his shoulder. "Let me go, dammit!"

"No. You're coming whit us whether you want it or not, we do not want to hurt you, I promise." He said in a comforting tone. But it had the opposite effect. "Please… I don't want to hurt anymore. Please, just let me go." He pleaded weakly. Kakashi gave him a sympathetic glance. He didn't want to be the one inflicting this pain on him, but they had to get him home. "I'm sorry Naruto, bear whit it." He whispered to the now sobbing blonde.

Kakashi walked over to the others. "Will he be okay?" Neji asked looking at Naruto whom seemed to have cried himself to sleep. "…I don't know."  
"I'll let the others know that we have found him through my ninja dogs. We should head back to the village, we are closest to it so it would be smarter to take him there than waiting for Sakura to arrive, he'll need medical treatment as soon as possible."  
They all nodded in agreement. They started their trip towards the village. "Hey, Kakashi… don't you think it's a little weird. That he just showed up like that… I mean we have been searching for an entire month and then suddenly he is just there, and so close to Konoha as well. It's like someone wanted us to find him."  
"I agree, something is not right."

* * *

They arrived at Konoha's gates 2 ½ hours later. Naruto hadn't woken up once during their trip though his body had started shaking due to cold. Whit so much blood lost it wasn't odd he couldn't keep his warmth. The gatekeepers looked stunned at the newly arrived. They had heard what kind of mission they had been sent out on and so if they were back the blood drenched person on Kakashi's shoulder must be Naruto. "Is he…is he dea-"

"Definitely not, but he could be if we not hurry, get the Hokage and Jiraya to meet us at the Hospital"  
When the man didn't move Kakashi grew aggravated. "Now!" He snapped his gaze away from the half-dead boy."Hokage-sama is already at the hospital, I'll go fetch Jiraya-sama." Kakashi along whit the three teens ran to the Hospital.

* * *

Kakashi barged in to the hospital. "Where is Tsunade-sama?"  
The nurse eyed the boy hanging over his shoulder. "It's Uzumaki Naruto, he's badly injured and needs Tsunade-sama's aid right now!"  
"of course, she said to contact her immediately when you were to return. Wait here."

She ran up the stairs and the second thereafter there was a loud bang heard from upstairs and Tsunade came rushing down. She looked serious and whit one glance on Naruto she knew that this was no time for a reunion and thus she made a sign for Kakashi to follow her. They stopped in front of an emergency room and she took Naruto from Kakashi. She frowned when she saw how badly injured the boy really was. She told some of the nurses nearby to assist her and to one to bring Shizune right away.

Kakashi, Shikamaru, Lee and Neji sat down outside the operating room. "So how long do you think it will take for the others to arrive?" Neji asked. "Probably by tomorrow, they were pretty far away. Kiba and Sakura were quite close to Hinata and shino so they will probably arrive at the same time." Shikamaru sighed. "Really…troublesome."

"hmm, why is that?" Neji asked. "I really don't want to be the one to tell Sakura about Naruto's condition, about the memory loss…"  
Nobody said anything. They merely sat there in silence waiting for news on Naruto. That was when Jiraya came. "Kakashi, did you get a chance to see the sea-"  
"Jiraya, get your ass in here NOW!" Tsunade screamed from inside the doors. Jiraya did as he was told. The four leaf shinobi was left alone again. After a while they heard the words they had dreaded come out of Jiraya's mouth; "what do you mean, you can't heal him?"

* * *

A/N: First chapter is out! Review?

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Naruto  
Apologizes: My English sucks, but if you do find it annoying then stop reading, can't do much about it since my English teacher in school sucks... (;


	3. Betrayed

**To make one's path**

_chapter 2_. Betrayed

* * *

_when you lost your path, where can you place your trust?_

* * *

"what do you mean you can't heal him?" Jiraya demanded worried.  
Tsunade raised a finger against Naruto's belly, against his seal. Jiraya gasped. "What the hell happened?" The inscriptions of the seal were bleeding and had made deep hacks into his body. "The seal isn't letting the Kyuubi's chakra flow like it used to and it's stopping any other chakra to flow through either therefore I can't use medical ninjutsu. Any ideas…?"

Jiraya bent down to Naruto whom was lying inside a circle of complicated descriptions that were stopping his bleeding though only temporary, it worked somewhat like a barrier, it didn't disturb his chakra system so it was one of the few things Tsunade had dared to do. Jiraya moved his hands above the seal not daring to touch the fragile boy. "Someone has been trying to break through the seal, to weaken it. This was indeed skillfully done. The only people whit this much knowledge about the Kyuubi's seal and desires it's powers would be the Akatsuki. They probably had him during the month he was missing" Jiraya stated sadly. 'Those bastards, I'll kill them when I get my hands on them!'

"Can we do anything about the seals then?" Tsunade asked. Seals were not her strongest side, it was Jiraya's. "seal_s_?"  
"Yeah, don't tell me you didn't notice the one on his neck." Jiraya turned his attention to Naruto's neck. "That's quite the simple seal, it blocks away a chosen function of the brain. Did he behave any different than usual when they found him?"

Tsunade looked relived, as relived you could be in this kind of situation. This explained the weird behavior. "Yes, his memories was messed up, he didn't recognize neither of them at all."  
"Okay, unfortunately I cannot do anything about it until the kyuubi's seal is fixed since I'll need to force my own chakra into it to break it. I will not risk doing that with his body this weak and being unable to handle others chakra."

"Then what'll we do until you are able to fix it and how long will it take for you to gather that knowledge?" Tsunade asked growing more anxious about the situation. She had a boy whit no memories bleeding to death and was unable to do anything else than stop the bleeding temporarily.  
"I'll be back in two days and seal it up; can you keep him alive until then?"

"Yeah… I'll do my best. You better hurry."  
"I will." He turned and left without another word to anyone unmistakably pissed. Pissed at the Akatsuki for what they had done to his student. If he died he would not stop until he had all of their heads ripped off their heads.

* * *

The hours past by and night fell. Naruto had been moved into a normal room in the hospital and the complicated seals had been decreased and were now painted all over his body around the most fatal wounds so he wouldn't bleed to death. Around his bed sat his finders and Tsunade. Tsunade had decided that no other apart from herself and the others that were sent on the retrieval mission were to know about his return. He needed rest and could not take any visitors at the moment, he wouldn't recognize them anyways.

Naruto stirred in his _seemingly_ heavy sleep. "Tsunade-sama, when will Jiraya-sama be back and handle the Kyuubi?" Lee asked. "He will be here in 1 ½ days, tops."  
Naruto flew up from his bed surprising everybody whom thought he fast asleep. "Thank, god Naruto. You're up. But you really should stay down, whit those woun-"

Tsunade stopped when she realized that the blonde wasn't listening to her. "I knew it! You want the Kyuubi!" He screamed trying to sound angry and intimidating but it came out as a desperate scared yelp. He jumped down from the bed and started running towards the door but just as he reached it he was caught and restrained by Kakashi. "You again! Why won't you just leave me alone!" He screamed, this time convincingly angry.

"We don't want to hurt you, calm down or we will have to use force."  
"Ha! That's exactly what they said, 'we don't want to hurt you' my ass." He once again couldn't help himself from letting a vague frightened tone escape his lips. His legs bent underneath him and his breathing became harsh. "Naruto!" came a scared plea from Neji when he fell limp in kakashi's arms and started squinting his eyes trying to regain his eyesight that was getting harder to see through with al the pain shooting through his body. His harsh breathing turned into hyperventilating but before he fell unconscious he managed to utter one sentence. "Use force all you want, you bastards. I rather die than handing the Kyuubi over too you…".

The three youngest shinobi stared in horror at the boy. Tsunade merely sighed, so this is the attitude he had been playing against his captors during his month in captivity. No wonder he was so heavily wounded, they can't have been pleased whit that. Kakashi looked down at his unconscious student; he was smiling in his sleep. "heh, this boy really has the will of fire, it seems he fought them all that time. His determination really isn't anything you'd want to mess with."

Nobody said anything, the silence said everything. Kakashi walked over to the bed and laid him back down. "Well that didn't quite go so well now, did it?" Shikamaru grinned. "How troublesome he is." He said looking down at the blonde sympathetically.

* * *

Naruto wasn't out long this time, after 45 minutes his eyes started flickering trying to get used to the bright light in the room. Tsunade had ordered Shikamaru, Neji and Lee to leave the room since she wanted Naruto to feel as safe as possible. That wasn't easy in a room crowded whit people he didn't know especially since he thought they wanted to kill him. Though she couldn't risk him hurting himself more therefore Naruto awoken to a horrible surprise. He was tied down to the bed. He glared angry at them. They looked sadly back at him. There was a silence. Tsunade and Kakashi was quiet, not sure what to say to him. They wanted to ask him what had happened and tell him that everything was going to be alright. But they knew their comfort and concern would revert into taunts and threats before they reached Naruto's ears.

"So, who are you anyways…and how do you intend to use this or get it out or whatever you want whit it." He asked clutching his stomach whit his working hand. "Naruto, we don't have any business with the Kyuubi but with you. Do you not remember us? We are you're comrades, your friends."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "Tss, the hell you are!"  
"Naruto, try to remember." Kakashi pleaded. Naruto continued to glare at them. "If you are my 'friends' then why the hell would you tie me up, huh?"  
"Because we know you, you would only struggle more and thus hurt yourself more if you were not contained. You need to rest, if you jump around more you will die from blood loss… and we can't have that-"

"No, because if I die you wouldn't be able to take the Kyuubi, right?" He growled angry.  
Tsunade sighed. "No because there are a lot of people that wouldn't be able to carry on without you including us." She said firmly. Naruto didn't hide his surprise this time, his eyes formed wide circles and his mouth hang open. "And why the hell should I trust you?" he asked when he had enclosed his astonishment. Tsunade sighed again. "Because, like I have told you, we want to help you. We want to protect you from those Akatsuki bastards. We will not let you fall into their clutch again. I promise."

"You don't earn my trust whit mere words. I suppose I don't have any other choice than to stay here either way…" He said nodding against his restraints. They snickered slightly at the boy. "You're damn right about that brat, there will be a man named Jiraya back in two days to restore the Kyuubi's seal and he will hopefully have gathered a way to remove the seal on your neck as well."

Naruto looked confused. 'I have a seal on my neck?' "It's blocking away your memories." She replied the unasked question before she walked out of the room whit one last advice to him to go sleep. Kakashi followed her out.

Naruto lay in his now empty hospital room thinking. 'They may be trustworthy. The seal would explain why I don't remember anything before those black cloaked bastards started whit those weird sessions.  
_"No! Please stop! Oh god, please!"  
No reply came only more tormenting. They kept on mumbling things he did not understand. Hell, he did not understand anything of this, why would they do this to him, what had he ever done to them? He did not know, the only thing left in his brain now was 'Naruto' which he assumed to be his name and pain, most of all pain. He had learned one more thing during his days in captivity, the reason for this suffering. The reason was something called 'Kyuubi' and from what he understood from his overheard conversations it was nothing he could afford to hand over to them. Whit the power it held, they could destroy the world as we know it. That was also something he had overheard, that that was exactly what they wanted to do. And therefore he fought, fought whit all the power he could muster. He fought against a non-sleeping pain. He spent every night in that cold stone-cell he bathed in his own blood while crying himself to sleep._

_

* * *

_

"Tsunade-sama, what the _hell _do you mean by that?" Kiba growled uneasy on how he should react to the Godaime's words. "I mean exactly what I said, 'you may not visit Naruto now. He needs rest."  
"We got that part, perfectly fine. What did you say about his _memory_?"  
"Well… it's sealed away and we won't have any chance of fixing it until Jiraya gets back."

Sakura stared at her teacher in disbelief. She bit her lip as if trying to decide over something, then suddenly she dashed past the others and towards Naruto's room. "Tsunade-sama, shouldn't we stop her?" Kiba asked the impassive woman. "No. She needs to see him whit her own eyes…" She stated

* * *

_A raven haired man entered his cell, whit the same expression he always wore against his captive. It was sad, guilty and concerned. Naruto always got this nostalgic feeling whenever he was near. He felt the man's pain; he sympathized for him somehow even though he didn't know anything about him. Why such a man had been led down this rotten path was a mystery to him. Why hadn't anyone helped him, it was obviously a innocent soul deep down in him that just needed to be grabbed and helped to break through that decayed façade. The man handed him a limp of bread and ordered him to eat. Naruto did as he was told, he ate fast as he always did. Not only was he hungering to death since he only got feed every other day but also because he really enjoyed what came after. The seemingly emotionless man always stayed to listen to him blather on about irrelative things. This was Naruto's favorite moments. It was the only moment he got to feel like a real person, not like an animal. The man gave his usual snort at his comments about everything and nothing. There was the usual silence that always filled the room before the man always stood up to leave, without a single word but this time was different. As he reached the door he turned back to face the blonde. "why is it that you are always so happy? We put you through daily torture and you can still sit here and smile a earnest smile at me and talk to as if I was not one of them, one of them whom treat you like you were a something, a monster, why is that?" _

_Naruto looked puzzled at the question. "I don't really have anything to compare too, this is all I know… but I probably wouldn't have those earnest smiles if it weren't for you. And you are wrong; you do not treat me like a monster."  
The man's guilt features took his face as he turned it away in shame. "I'm sorry" he whispered._

"_For what?"  
"For bringing you here, you do not deserve this."  
"Well… like I said, I wouldn't know, would I? It actually makes it a lot easier." He said smiling one of his signature smiles. The man smiled a little and walked up to him and put his fingers on his neck. He pressed them against his skin while mumbling something non-understandable. Naruto felt the pain from the sessions earlier that day __**weather**__ away. "Thank you…" he mumbled as he felt his body fall into a welcomed sleep. "It's Sauske by the way… my name that is."  
"oh, really… well, thank you Sauske…" He whispered before he fell asleep on the rock hard floor._

He awoke from his sleep by footsteps approaching his hospital room, only seconds thereafter a pink haired girl came rushing through the doors. "Naruto, you are really back!" she screamed happily as she ran over to his bead. She was chocked by the look she received, it was defensive and pissed but most of all was it confused. "Get the hell away from by bed!" he growled between clenched teeth. Sakura backed away as she was told, eyes wide. "You…you really don't remember anything, do you?" she asked devastated. Naruto's glare was more than answer to her. "Do you not remember me or Kakashi… not even Sauske-kun?"

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Do you know Sauske!?" he asked, his jaw hitting the ground.  
"What…of course I do, we were team seven, remember?"  
"We were on a team… me and Sauske?" Naruto asked dumbstruck  
"yes, and me and Kakashi…."  
Naruto didn't seem to listen, the news that _he_ was once a part of his team seemed to have put a wrench in his mind. Sakura began to snap her fingers trying to get a reaction from the stunned shinobi. "He was… but then why would he be whit them. Why…" Naruto felt betrayed. "Why would he…" Hot tears began streaming down his cheeks without him knowing it. "Why would he be whit the ones trying to get their hand on _this_…" he asked himself clutching his stomach. Sakura realized what he meant. "Sauske-kun is a member of Akatsuki?!" She demanded and paced fast towards the blond. His gaze flew up from the covers and onto the pink haired girl as she reached his bed. "Is he, Naruto?" she demanded. Her eyes were sad and looked betrayed, but not even half as much as Narutos was. He nodded. Both teens forgot about their current relation to each other as Sakura embraced Naruto, she was sobbing into his shoulder. Tsunade was standing outside the door and had overheard the entire conversation. 'So he was captured by the Akatsuki after al… and then there is Uchiha Sauske…to think he joined _that_ organization.' She opened the door slowly. "Sakura…"

"Sensei…"  
"You really should get of him, like I said… he needs rest." Sakura diverted her attention to her teammate and found that he had fallen asleep in her embrace. She smiled sadly. "He has been through a lot…"  
"Indeed though I must say that the Uchiha boy is what concerns me the most." She earned herself a grumpy look from Sakura at those words but ignored them. "Come on, we need to let him rest. Jiraya will arrive tomorrow and he'll need to be in shape by then"

* * *

A/N. Boring chapter but there will be development in the next chapter so don't give up on the story just yet! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Naruto  
Apologizes: My English sucks, but if you do find it annoying then stop reading, can't do much about it since my English teacher in school sucks... (;


	4. Who and What

CHAPTER 3

_chapter 2_. Betrayed

* * *

_when you lost your path, can you find yourself?_

* * *

"So Sauske, this is the time for you to make up for your little _misstep_ earlier… even though it turned out to work for our advantage." Two Uchiha was standing next to each other looking over Konoha. On whit sorrow, guilt and regret though he tried to hide it whit his indifference façade but that did not fool the elder Uchiha, he snickered slightly and started walking "let's go and meet up whit my scout".

* * *

Naruto was lying in his bed stirring back and forth in his sleep, he had 6 pairs of troubled eyes watching him.  
_"Naruto, come on!"  
"what, where are we going?" He rasped back angry that the raven haired man that had come to disturb him in his sleep. "Away from here, somewhere safe… I'm taking you to Konoha." Sauske spat the last words out whit venom. Naruto looked confused. He doesn't seem to like this Konoha place… then why the hell would he take me there… He didn't have much time to think though, Sauske grabbed his arm roughly and demanded him to hurry up, he glanced anxiously at the door. 'hmm, seems this is not approved by the other members… I'd rather not put him in danger, I should stay here. I don't really know anything else either…'_

"_I think I'll stay here, I don't want you getting into trouble-" Sauske's eyes looked at him whit those feelings Naruto never understood why he felt against him, guilt and sorrow. "Don't you understand, if you stay here much longer you will die!" He screamed at the perplexed boy. "wha-!" He felt a hit at the back of his neck and cold hand lifting him firmly up in his arms and then running, and then nothing._

Naruto awoke from his dream but left his eyes shut since he felt a presence in the room watching him intensely, he had learned during his days in captivity that this kind of situation led to much pain every time unless it was him of course then it would result in a few nice chatting hours and some nice food. But that was no more because he had dumped him in that forest to be taken in by the Konoha ninja but they actually seemed quite nice, this only made him more perplexed. Why would Sauske hate these guys… and thus he opened his eyes to meet his enemies or friends, which had Naruto yet to decide. "So finally awake are you brat, thought you would never wake up." A white haired tall old man spoke. Naruto blinked at the man, he hadn't seen him before though he decided it would be best not to argue with him since one could easily tell that his strength was far above normal shinobi level. There was a silence, nobody really knew what to say.

"so kid, I got some bad and good news…" Jiraya began. "There is not much I can do about the seals…" Naruto's eyes widned. "WHAT? But how are you going to heal me then if you can't insert any chakra in my system?"

"Well, there is the good news; the kyuubi's seal seems to be restoring itself." 'the Yondaime really didn't leave anything to chance when se sealed that damned fox.' He thought smiling to himself. "What the hell are you smiling at old man… do you mean I will be stuck here in bed with these barriers on my wounds until the seal restores itself fully?"

"Yes… I'm sorry."  
Naruto looked displeased. "Whatever, what about the seal on my neck that you were babbling on about before?" he asked nodding towards Tsunade. "Well… regarding that I have some more bad news actually. That can't be released fast; it will take at least two weeks before al your memories return. If we were to release the seal to fast, the memories will be too much of a chock for you since you went through _a lot_ when you were little." Jiraya explained considerately.

"If there really is a seal." He stated angry and suspicious. This was not the news he wanted, if he were to stay in a place with unknown people he at least wanted to be able to move on his own which he could not with these injuries.

"You know, don't you think you should be a little grateful that we took you in and helped you." Tsunade said.  
"I never asked for it. And don't get me wrong just because I'm willing to listen to you does not mean I actually believe you and even less trust you at al. You are strangers keeping me bound to a fucking hospital bead and telling me an utterly ridicules story about my memory and actually assuming I will believe you, you got to be fucking kidding me." He hissed.

The third person in the room spoke up. "We do not demand that you believe us but what we are telling you is the truth, it's up to you to believe it or not."  
They looked at naruto expecting another angry outburst but instead they got a painful declaration; "tell me, who and what were you to me? If this memory loss of mine really is true then I suppose I'll just have to try finding myself… I don't really remember anything positive about my life other than Sauske, everything else is just dark hell of pain and struggle. I just don't understand- why he would leave me, why didn't he follow me here if he cared so much." _'or did he even care…' _Naruto had started sobbing at the last sentence. "I'm just so confused; I have no idea about _who or what_ I am."

He choked on his sobs when he felt strong arms embracing him. "You are Uzumaki Naruto, a shinobi of Konoha and the future Hokage. Do you not remember that, your dream? You were going to become Hokage and have us all recognize your strength, how are we going to do that if you can't even recognize yourself. Try to remember the good things, Naruto."

He felt a painful jolt go from his neck, from the seal, up to his head.  
_"So let's start with you, tell me about your dreams, likes and dislikes." A silver haired shinobi demanded. He was sitting across from three shinobi but their strength was not even comparable. "yosh! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook… and my dream is to become the strongest shinobi and become Hokage and so have everybody in this village recognize my existence!!" The stronger shinobi's visible eye widened slightly.  
"my hobbies is pranks I guess…"  
"…I see"_

Jiraya released his hold on Naruto and backed away slightly afraid that it might have been his fault that the blonde had let out that terrible scream in agony. Naruto raised a hand to his neck, rubbing the spot where the seal was. Jiraya looked expectantly at him. "Did the seal do anything, Naruto?"  
Naruto didn't respond. He slowly raised his head and locked his gaze with Kakashi. He kept looking at him as if trying to penetrate him to see what was inside those eyes. "What happened?" Kakashi asked wondering why his eyes would change from giving him so much hate to confusedness…

"Naruto." Tsunade said sternly "answer."  
"I remembered something, you were there…" he said nodding towards Kakashi. "…the memory filled me with a strange happy emotion. I think it was the first time we met… we were introducing ourselves. Me, Sauske and…" his voice now turned quite guilty. "…you and that pink haired girl, Sakura. I'm sorry I was so mean… I seems you really do mean good with holding me here…". Oh god, that was hard to admit, his pride was one of the few things no one could take from him after all… _(hell, everything else had already been taken.). _

"You have nothing to be sorry about Naruto. You had and still have all right to act the way you do. Hell, I would most certainly scold your if you were to be to open minded and careless against us. I did train you for three years, al that can't have been in vain." Jiraya said smiling a sinister smile towards his student.

"oh, really…". This was not really a comfortable situation to be in, surrounded by you so called loved ones, not knowing if that really was the case. Either way it was somehow humiliating. He hated it, being the one to know the least about himself.

They looked at Naruto smiling and waiting for him so flash one of his own brilliant smiles but it never came. "I'm sorry but this is just so much to comprehend. I mean just the other day I was chained in some weird cave being tortured. I was so confused and coming here… to be told about a life I never knew I had, a life where I had friends and actually was treated with humanity was merely something I could dream of…"

Jiraya looked deep into those blue eyes and saw the deep sorrow and hurt in them. "Coming here only makes me more confused actually. It's scary, coming into a totally unknown life; it actually makes me wish it only was one of my dreams. I think I rather take the pain instead of this, at least there I knew what I was doing, what I was reaching for and what I was fighting for." And there it came, the brilliant smile that he always wore, the smile that filled everyone with new hope but this time it did the exact opposite. That was a tragic smile; it cut Tsunade's heart when she saw it. Not only was it the fact that he was smiling in his position but it was not his regular 'happy-go-lucky' smile but an empty and disorientated smile.

And so followed an awkward silence. It lingered long, longer and longest in Naruto's mind. _'Great, so I just spilled my heart to potential enemies.' _  
Then Tsunade broke the silence. Not with her words, but (surpringsly) with her feet. She paced fast out of the room leaving a few tears behind.

Naruto looked after her confused._ 'what was she crying about…?' _He turned his gaze to his two sensei's. And was even more confused. They stared after the woman with sorrow in their eyes.  
"What's your problem?" he asked perplexed. The two men turned their attention to Naruto.

"We were and are three of you most precious people and likewise you are ours. It's just really hard to see you like this, so lonely, hurt and confused." Jiraya said on the verge of starting to cry as well.

"I'm sorry?" Naruto said hesitantly. And to his dread this only increased the sorrow they let out. "oh, no please don't-" he started getting a bit panicked that everything he said and did only seemed to make them sad…

But before he could carry on any of his pleading he was cut off by Kakashi. "It's us that are sorry. We really are, Naruto." He said and started walking towards the door and with one last glance at his student Jiraya followed his example. And there it came, the tears. Not tears of sadness but tears of helplessness. _What am I? Who am I?_ He wanted answers.

* * *

A/N. Sorry(!!!) for the delay, had some other things to take care of, but chapter 4 should be up soon, i have already writen half of it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Naruto  
Apologizes: My English sucks, but if you do find it annoying then stop reading, can't do much about it since my English teacher in school sucks... (;


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